A Plymouth Road Runner does a burnout as the light changes at Woodward Avenue and West Pike Street in Pontiac during the 20th annual Woodward Dream Cruise on Saturday. Dustin Blitchok-The Oakland Press

The Woodward Dream Cruise pushed the clutch and shifted into its 20th year Saturday, with an estimated crowd of at least 1.3 million people enjoying warm and breezy weather, a sea of vintage automobiles and 16 miles of nostalgia from Pontiac to Ferndale.

In Pontiac, chirping tires and guttural exhausts could be heard across the Woodward Loop.

Waterford Township Supervisor Gary Wall and his wife, Donna, were at The Oakland Press Cruizin’ Car Show at Woodward Avenue and West Pike Street. The vanity plate on Wall’s 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air reads: “G WALL.”

Wall said he remembers cars racing on Woodward Avenue when he was in high school.

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“They’ve been lighting them up all day,” he said. “The smell of burning rubber — It takes you back to when life was simple.”

Kevin Kramer, of Woodhaven, was watching along the Woodward Loop with his wife, father and brother: “We make it kind of a family ordeal.” He came in his orange 1969 Dodge Charger, a replica of The General Lee in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Kramer said he enjoys watching in Pontiac because traffic isn’t as gridlocked there.

Farther south, Waterford residents Rob and Lori Petrusha were driving their 1948 Pontiac near the cruise’s epicenter, at Woodward Avenue and Coolidge Highway in Royal Oak, when the classic car stalled.

The couple pushed the Pontiac onto the median, and a truck from the Chevrolet Certified Service Rescue Squad stopped to help.

“It’s not going to ruin our day at all,” Petrusha said, as her husband leaned over the car’s engine troubleshooting the problem. “It’s just one of those things that happens with old cars.”

Music from the 1960s and 1970s pumped from the speakers at radio towers set up around 13 Mile and Woodward as throngs of people walked through, coming to and from the large car show at Northwood Plaza.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard was in the sheriff’s mobile command unit at 13 Mile and Woodward at about 6 p.m. Saturday.

“So far so good. Solid weather, huge crowd and minimal issues,” he said. “That’s the trifecta of success for us.”

Bouchard said attendance at the Dream Cruise grew this year.

“Where we’re really seeing the growth is up through Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township and Pontiac. A lot of the areas that in the past had gaps — those gaps are beginning to fill in.” When the sheriff walked into the nearby crowd, the first seven people he met were from Australia, Kentucky, Ohio and Alabama.

“I enjoy it,” Bouchard said. “I think it’s fun to watch the smiles, see people revel in it and have people from all over the world to be a part of it. Hopefully they leave their money in merchant’s pockets — it’s good for the Oakland County economy.”

Musical notes could be heard above the exhaust noises at the corner of Woodward and Bembridge Road, where the Rev. Michael L. Lucas was playing a Native American flute.

The Battle Creek resident belongs to a church that gave out 10,000 free bottles of water at several different locations at the Dream Cruise.

“We’re just giving out free water and sharing the love of Jesus.”

The aftermath of flooding earlier this week could still be seen Saturday in the damaged belongings left on the curbs on streets in southern Oakland County. Michael Hennes, owner of the Ferndale restaurant Howe’s Bayou, said: “I’m surprised how upbeat everyone is after everything they’ve been through.”

Hennes said his restaurant benefits from Dream Cruise business.

“We’re one of the businesses it helps. It helps some (and) hurts others.”

Nine Mile Road was shut down and converted to “Mustang Alley” Saturday, and Ford lined up cars along the road representing every iteration of the iconic coupe, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this year.

Milford resident George Magro stood at the very beginning of the line with his restored Rangood Red 1964 ½ Mustang convertible. The car was built July 2, 1964, before Ford made numerous design changes to the then-new model less than a month later, on Aug. 1, 1964.

Magro, a retired Ford engineer, said he drives the rare vehicle about 3,000 miles a year and has learned not to sweat the minor chips and dings that inevitably happen on the road.